Should England's fans be compensated?

Last week I raised the question whether English Jewry should back England at the World Cup. And this morning I ask whether English fans, of all faiths, who actually went to see England play Algeria, should be compensated.

After all the trip to Cape Town wasn't cheap, and a few days earlier, many of them had also suffered considerable displeasure watching their team held to a draw in Rustenburg. If you also factor in match tickets, hotels and food, their jaunt to South Africa must have cost a few thousand quid.

So who is liable?

Can the fans sue the Italian manager? Or would it, perhaps, be more prudent to take a case against The FA?

I would imagine that the players will claim that they were doing their best and were not playing negligently. But can anyone believe them?

210. At 03:35am on 19 Jun 2010, Gooner660 wrote:
Of course it's OK to boo your teams performance if they deserve it but you get behind them for the next match. I fully understand the fans in SA having paid all that money to watch your team play like that. It takes me 3 to 5 years to earn what those "superstars" get in a week so I have to be, like most of us, an armchair supporter. I didn't stand up and boo but I used a few words that I can't use in this blog I can tell you! I really don't think most of them are really world class. I think that they are made to look better than they are by the support and play of their club team mates. Unfortunately, in most cases, they're foreigners.

I ask if he regrets his infamous "cricket test" – whether British citizens from ethnic minorities support, in a cricket match, England or their country of origin. Not in the least, he says. "It proves itself more and more valid. The question asked was are you part of the country you have come to and are you looking forward with that country, or are you looking over your shoulder to where you came from?"